August 30th, 1793 Dear Mr.

Hamilton, I, the mayor of Philadelphia, am writing this letter to request something from you. This request is for the good of the citizens of Philadelphia and not for political gain. I assume youve already been informed about the catastrophic yellow fever epidemic that infected and killed a massive amount of citizens. I would imagine this news has spread worldwide. Here in Philadelphia, you cant walk one block without seeing a bunch of dead bodies. We had to stop the citys bells from tolling for every death because it became overwhelming. Our city became unstable because so many people abandoned it and closed their businesses. Also, farmers refuse to bring in their food for the reason that they dont want to get exposed to the fever. It is a complete terror scene. The reason why I am writing this request is because we need your mansion, Bush Hill, to use it as a hospital for fever victims. There is no place to put these people and there is no one to care for them. We need a place to accommodate them because they cant just suffer in the streets and scare people that pass by them. Since the Ricketts Circus is performing in New York, we were using their performance place, a peculiar tent-like building with a vast space in it, for a period of time. However, we were forced to move the sick because people living in houses around Ricketts Circus started to complain and demanded that we immediately moved them to a different place. We chose Bush Hill because it is a big place and is far away from the center of the city. There, volunteers and the few doctors that are left will take care of these people who really need someone to be there for them. I cant promise that you will receive a recompense for this, since we are in the middle of such a terrible epidemic and the whole city is in crisis. But one thing I can assure is that you are helping your friends, neighbors, city and even country. Your reward is the satisfaction of knowing that you are helping people you care about, and if you ask me, there is nothing better than that feeling. Thank you in advance, Mayor Matthew Clarkson

Kennedy, David J. Bush Hill Mansion. 1787. David J. Kennedy watercolors, Philadelphia.

Kennedy, David J. Ricketts Circus. 1979. David J. Kennedy watercolors, Philadelphia.